Oneida Square roundabout turns six months old

If the Oneida Square roundabout was a movie, the reviews would be mostly positive.

By DAN MINER

Uticaod

By DAN MINER

Posted Apr. 2, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 2, 2012 at 2:18 AM

By DAN MINER

Posted Apr. 2, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 2, 2012 at 2:18 AM

UTICA

If the Oneida Square roundabout was a movie, the reviews would be mostly positive.

It’s been six months since construction wrapped up on the $2.27 million project, and long gone are the tangle of lights that once confounded drivers.

“The traffic flow is very smooth,” said Antonino Ranvazzo, co-manager of Palermo’s Pizza. “It’s really cleaned up the area with the new park and pavers and sidewalk.”

A small roundabout is central to the new design, with Genesee, Oneida and State streets and Park Avenue acting as spokes. Sidewalks have been reconstructed and the road has been paved.

The project connected the landmark Soldiers and Sailors Monument to a small park and allowed for reconstruction of sewer infrastructure beneath the street.

But it was no sure thing – as the Common Council struck down a roundabout proposal that included moving the monument in 2007.

It took a major push by former Mayor David Roefaro, in the face of criticism about the plan, to finally make it happen last year.

“So far, to be honest with you, it’s been much better than we expected,” said Goran Smiljic, the city’s deputy engineer. “The more people that go through it, the more they like it.”

Smiljic said he hoped it made more Uticans open to innovative infrastructure proposals. The project is funded 80 percent by the federal government, 15 percent by the state government and 5 percent by city government.

* Public Works Commissioner David Short said there was no issue clearing snow from the area this winter. Plows cleared snow from the street while hand shoveling and snow blowers were used for the walkways.

* Brian Thomas, the city’s Urban and Economic Development Commissioner, said he expects the improved aesthetics of the neighborhood to generate more development there.

He pointed out even more change – the coming demolition of the Oneida Castle building at Oneida and Hobart streets, which will be replaced by a newly constructed low= to moderate-income housing unit.

The good feelings aren’t universal. Some of the roundabout’s initial critics say it creates an unsettling traffic dynamic – and thus discourages visitors to and from downtown.

“I’ve had numerous people tell me they avoid it at all costs and it has discouraged them from going downtown,” Utica resident Tim Trent said. “The people who like it are the people who don’t drive through it.”